Horseshoe Bay Ferry Limo & Car Service

Horseshoe Bay ferry limo service is built around a compact terminal that is busy for most of the year. BC Ferries' Horseshoe Bay terminal sits at 6750 Keith Road in West Vancouver, at the west end of the Trans-Canada Highway, and sends boats to Departure Bay in Nanaimo, Langdale on the Sunshine Coast and Snug Cove on Bowen Island.

Unlike Tsawwassen, Horseshoe Bay is a village terminal. BC Ferries notes restaurants, shopping and a park nearby, and the road in is short. That is why a drop-off by a professional chauffeur, who knows where to stop and when to leave, makes the difference between a calm arrival and a stressed one.

How long does it take to drive to Horseshoe Bay from downtown Vancouver?

The approach from Vancouver crosses the Lions Gate Bridge from Stanley Park, then follows the Trans-Canada Highway through West Vancouver to the terminal. From the airport the route goes through the city and over the same bridge, which is why BC Ferries quotes a longer time from YVR than from downtown.

For a morning sailing, the question is not how long the drive takes on an empty road. It is how long it takes when the Lions Gate Bridge is backed up, and the safe answer is to leave with at least 20 minutes in hand.

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Horseshoe Bay terminal facts that affect your transfer

All of this is drawn from the operator's Horseshoe Bay terminal page. The page also notes that public transit may not be available when you arrive on a later sailing, a point that matters if you are planning a late return.

Horseshoe Bay ferry car service fares

Ranges follow our published rate card, before tax. Tolls are extra where they apply, gratuity is at your discretion and the booker gives the exact all-in price for your address.

Short runs fall to the vehicle's minimum transfer, which is why the first four rows share a range. The distances are rounded planning figures.

Check-in rules at Horseshoe Bay

The terminal page publishes different rules for different routes, and they have changed recently, so read them for your date.

• Nanaimo (Departure Bay): vehicle travel requires advance booking and payment, and drive-up fares are no longer available. This applies one way only, from Horseshoe Bay to Nanaimo. Booking check-in opens 120 minutes before departure and closes 30 minutes before.
• Sunshine Coast (Langdale) with a booking: check-in opens 60 minutes before departure and closes 30 minutes before.
• Sunshine Coast or Bowen Island without a booking: travel is first come, first served, and ticket sales and check-in close 10 minutes before departure for foot passengers and vehicles.

The Nanaimo rule is the one most visitors miss. If you plan to cross with a vehicle, there is no turning up and hoping. If you are a foot passenger being dropped by us, you are not driving on, which makes the check-in simpler but still subject to the window.

Horseshoe Bay to Nanaimo: the island route

BC Ferries lists the Horseshoe Bay to Departure Bay crossing at about 1 hour 42 minutes. Departure Bay is in central Nanaimo with local bus connections, and BC Ferries lists the BC Transit 20 bus from the terminal to downtown Nanaimo.

A common plan is a morning sailing with a car waiting at Departure Bay for a day on the island. If you want a chauffeur at both ends, book two legs: a Vancouver pickup that drops you at Horseshoe Bay, and a separate island pickup after you land. Our Victoria-side page for Swartz Bay shows how island-side fares are priced.

Horseshoe Bay to Langdale and the Sunshine Coast

The crossing to Langdale takes about 40 minutes on the timetable. The Sunshine Coast has no road link to the rest of mainland BC, so the ferry is the way in for visitors and for residents alike. From Langdale, BC Transit's 90 bus runs to Gibsons, according to the BC Ferries transit page, and the rest of the coast is reached by car.

Sunshine Coast weekends fill early. Because the route can be taken without a booking, last-minute walk-ons rely on order of arrival and sailing capacity. A chauffeur does not change that rule, but arriving early and in the right lane does.

Bowen Island: the 20-minute escape

Bowen Island is the shortest crossing from the terminal, about 20 minutes to Snug Cove. It is not bookable, so travel is by order of arrival. For many Vancouver visitors it is a half-day outing: a ferry, a walk, lunch and back. If you are bringing a group for a celebration, an Executive Sprinter can drop everyone at the terminal together, and the party then travels as foot passengers.

Whistler and Squamish from the terminal

Horseshoe Bay also marks the gateway to the Sea-to-Sky corridor, where Highway 99 continues north to Squamish and Whistler. A Horseshoe Bay to Whistler transfer is about 100 km, in the order of 1.25 to 1.75 hours depending on traffic and conditions, with winter driving to consider. Our Vancouver to Whistler page covers the full route, and our guide to Whistler village and the Sea-to-Sky Highway lists the stops worth making.

If your guests are staying at Fairmont Chateau Whistler or Four Seasons Resort and Residences Whistler, the arrival guides for those properties explain the access and drop-off details.

Cheapest ways to reach Horseshoe Bay, compared

The bus routes in the table are those named on the BC Ferries coach, bus and shuttle page. Fares change, so check TransLink before you travel.

When the bus is the right answer

If you are a single foot passenger leaving downtown in daytime with a light bag, bus 257 is the sensible, inexpensive choice, and a limousine adds little. If the weather is poor, your party is three or more, or you are travelling to the airport afterwards with a heavy suitcase, a private car pays for itself in effort saved.

The honest middle option is to take a car one way. Many guests ride the bus to the terminal in the morning, enjoy a day on the island, and book a chauffeur for the return when luggage and tiredness have grown.

What a chauffeur does at Horseshoe Bay

The terminal is compact and the approach is a short street, so there is little room to stop and unload. A chauffeur's job is to arrive at the right moment, load or unload quickly and move on, while keeping the check-in clock in view. That is hard to do in a hurry in a hired car with an unfamiliar driver.

Tell us if you are bringing a stroller, golf clubs, a wheelchair or a bicycle, and we will match the vehicle. Child seats cost nothing extra when you ask for them at booking. Wheelchair and boarding assistance are offered by BC Ferries at the terminal, according to its accessibility notes.

BC Ferries states that parking is operated independently by Impark, that parking in aisles is prohibited, and that vehicles may be ticketed or towed. If a friend is dropping you off, they cannot idle in a travel lane. A chauffeur is used to stopping only where the terminal allows and keeps moving.

Hourly service and the Sea-to-Sky day

Many Horseshoe Bay bookings are really day trips. A sedan by the hour is $135-$165 with a two-hour minimum. An SUV is $175-$210 per hour with a two-hour minimum. An Executive Sprinter is $240-$295 per hour with a three-hour minimum, and a stretch limousine is $225-$300 per hour with a three-hour minimum.

If you are visiting the North Shore, ask about combining the terminal with the Capilano Suspension Bridge or Stanley Park, both of which fit between a morning arrival and an afternoon sailing. The Granville Island visit is another popular pairing.

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Horseshoe Bay or Tsawwassen for Vancouver Island?

Travellers heading to Nanaimo sometimes have a choice between two mainland terminals. Horseshoe Bay is the closer one to downtown and the North Shore, with a crossing of about 1 hour 42 minutes to Departure Bay, and it now requires advance booking for vehicles on that route. Tsawwassen is farther south, about 36 km from downtown according to the BC Ferries Tsawwassen page, and offers the Duke Point crossing of about two hours as well as Victoria.

If your destination is Victoria, Tsawwassen is the natural choice, because its crossing runs to Swartz Bay. If your destination is Nanaimo and you are starting on the North Shore or downtown, Horseshoe Bay usually saves a long drive. If you are flying in to YVR and heading to Nanaimo, the airport is closer to Tsawwassen, so compare both terminals' sailing times before you choose.

Late sailings and coming home

The last boats of the evening are where plans go wrong. The terminal page warns that public transit may not be running when you arrive on a later sailing, so a foot passenger who counted on a bus can find the stop quiet. If you are returning from the island after dark, a pre-booked chauffeur waiting at the curb is the dependable plan, and the pickup time is anchored to the published arrival time of your sailing.

Give us the sailing number or departure time when you book the return, and tell us whether you will be carrying luggage, because a day-trip with a daypack and a week-away with four suitcases need different vehicles and different pickup assumptions.

Construction, delays and what to watch

BC Ferries is running a multi-year infrastructure program at Horseshoe Bay and Langdale, and its Horseshoe Bay travel notice says vehicle space at Horseshoe Bay is reduced by 25 percent. The same notice says foot passengers and cyclists can still travel to Nanaimo with or without a booking, that the cut-off for new vehicle bookings has moved to 30 minutes before departure, and that the vehicle staging lanes have changed. Notices like these change, so read the current page before you travel. If you are caught by a delay, the live conditions page shows departures and anticipated times, though it may not reflect a delay until a vessel has left.

Our limo rates page explains how fares behave if your pickup time shifts, and the full Vancouver airport limo page covers flight-linked arrivals.